1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a belt stamp comprising a housing, a baseplate carrying a printing plate and hinged to the bottom end of the housing to be pivoted from a closed into an open position, and a stamping belt assembly adjustable in the housing by set screw means in a direction which is normal to the baseplate in the closed position. The stamping belt assembly comprises stamping belts which carry type adapted to act through a window formed in the baseplate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In belt stamps of the kind described above, the baseplate is resiliently or rigidly locked in a closed position but must be swung open so that the several stamping belts can be adjusted, in most cases for printing a given date. In other known belt stamps comprising a baseplate, the belts can be adjusted or displaced without turning the baseplate to an open position. But in such stamps the window which is formed in the baseplate and through which the type provided on the stamping belts extends must be relatively wide in order to ensure that the type on the stamping belts will not strike against the longitudinal edges of the window and the latter will not obstruct the desired adjustment or shifting of the belts. On the other hand, the provision of a wide window in the baseplate will obviously reduce the area which is available for printing dies on the printing plate which is carried by the baseplate. In such stamps, the permanent imprint produced by the printing dies on the printing plate is to be combined with a changing imprint, consisting particularly of dates, produced by the stamping belts.
If a uniform imprint is to be produced by the stamp, the type on the stamping belts will have to be moved to a position in the plane of the surface of the printing dies on the printing plate. For this reason the stamping belt assembly is mounted in the housing for an adjustment by set screw means in a direction which is normal to the plane of the baseplate. In that case, a desired printing plate consisting, as a rule, of rubber, can be glued to the baseplate and the stamping belt assembly can then be adjusted to a position in which the surface of the type on the stamping belts and the surface of the printing dies on the printing plate lie in a common plane.
In dependence on the purpose for which the stamp is intended and on the imprint to be produced by the printing plate, it is necessary to provide baseplates and printing plates of various sizes and configurations. To avoid the making of a separate entire stamp for each imprint having a given configuration or size, it is already known to provide in a primary assembling operation identical housings with baseplates differing in area and/or configuration as may be required. But that practice involves a relatively high expenditure of labor because a subsequent replacement of the baseplate is hardly possible or at least very difficult.